EU law
There is no such thing as a free gift. Evaluate this statement.
In western society we are led to believe that gift giving is distinct from market exchange. This originates from western economic theory that is based on the perception that societies evolve from ‘sharing’ archaic societies to market economies, that are based on theories of supply and demand. However, through the history of anthropological thought we can determine that this distinction is a false dichotomy. According to the Oxford English dictionary, a gift is ‘a thing given willingly to someone without payment’ (Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/gift [accessed: 4 December 2013]. It is this definition that has found itself at the centre of anthropological debate. Bronislaw Malinowski first coined the term ‘pure gift’ whilst conducting his ethnographic research in the Trobriand Islands. A ‘pure gift’ according to Malinowski was ‘an act in which an individual gives an object or renders a service without expecting a return’ (1922: 176). This was heavily criticised by revolutionary theorist Marcel Mauss in his most famous work The Gift (1925), whereby through studying the Maori people, he argues that a free gift is impossible, as with every gift comes an ‘obligation to reciprocate’ (1925: 3). The Gift has been extremely influential to many anthropological studies including the work of James Carrier, Jonathan Parry and David Sahlins. However Mauss 's views on the nature of gift exchange have not been without their critics. Anthropologists such as James Laidlaw and Alain Testart contest that there is such a thing as a ‘free gift’. James Laidlaw uses the example of the giving of alms to Shvetambar Jain renouncers whereas Alain Testart focuses on the multiple meanings of the term ‘obligation’, in his interpretation of a ‘free gift’. After exploring both sides of this anthropological debate and examining the significant ethnographic fieldwork I will determine whether
In western society we are led to believe that gift giving is distinct from market exchange. This originates from western economic theory that is based on the perception that societies evolve from ‘sharing’ archaic societies to market economies, that are based on theories of supply and demand. However, through the history of anthropological thought we can determine that this distinction is a false dichotomy. According to the Oxford English dictionary, a gift is ‘a thing given willingly to someone without payment’ (Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/gift [accessed: 4 December 2013]. It is this definition that has found itself at the centre of anthropological debate. Bronislaw Malinowski first coined the term ‘pure gift’ whilst conducting his ethnographic research in the Trobriand Islands. A ‘pure gift’ according to Malinowski was ‘an act in which an individual gives an object or renders a service without expecting a return’ (1922: 176). This was heavily criticised by revolutionary theorist Marcel Mauss in his most famous work The Gift (1925), whereby through studying the Maori people, he argues that a free gift is impossible, as with every gift comes an ‘obligation to reciprocate’ (1925: 3). The Gift has been extremely influential to many anthropological studies including the work of James Carrier, Jonathan Parry and David Sahlins. However Mauss 's views on the nature of gift exchange have not been without their critics. Anthropologists such as James Laidlaw and Alain Testart contest that there is such a thing as a ‘free gift’. James Laidlaw uses the example of the giving of alms to Shvetambar Jain renouncers whereas Alain Testart focuses on the multiple meanings of the term ‘obligation’, in his interpretation of a ‘free gift’. After exploring both sides of this anthropological debate and examining the significant ethnographic fieldwork I will determine whether
Bibliography: Carrier James, G. 1995. Gifts and commodities : exchange and Western capitalism since 1700 (Material cultures). London: Routledge. Gregory, C.A. 1982. Gifts and commodities (Studies in political economy). London: Academic Press. Laidlaw, J. 2000. ‘A free gift makes no friends’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 6: 617-634. Malinowski, B. 1961. Argonauts of the Western Pacific. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press. Mauss, M. 1925. The Gift: forms and functions of exchange in archaic societies. London: Routledge. Parry, J. 1986. The Gift, the Indian Gift and the 'Indian Gift '. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 21(3), 453-473. Sahlins, M. 1974.’The Original Affluent Society’ in Stone Age Economics. London: Routledge. Testart, A. 1998. 'Uncertainties of the 'Obligation to Reciprocate ': A Critique of Mauss ' in Marcel Mauss: A Centenary Tribute. James, W. and Allen, N. J. (eds.). New York: Berghahn Books.